life has been considerably redeemed from Hindu influences and is becoming increasingly cosmopolitan. They are able to show some sort of united front in politics, because they feel the equality of subjection to a non-Hindu power which is silently exerting the influence of its democratic ideas in all spheres of life and thus raising the Hindu mind out of its natural caste psychology. In the Hindu states, the Hindus are destined to steady decline and ultimate annihilation, unless the Hindu ideals are one by one abandoned in order to make room for those of self-respect and freedom.
Martanda Varma Maharaja who ruled from 1729 A. D.. for about 30 years is the maker of modern Travancore. After a protracted struggle with the turbulent feudal chiefs, he consolidated his power over the area now known as Travancore. He was aided in his conquests by an able Brahman ewan, Ramayyan Dalawa. Brahmanism which had been retreating ,tin to the south before the Muhammadan invaders ‘found an asylum in Travancore, and the state came to be known as the land of charity, which of course meant charity to the Brahmans. “Wanje Martanda Perumal, who assumed authority in 1729 A. D. and held it nearly for thirty years was most successful in the subjection of his neighbors though at the same time severe and despotic in the government of his people. He resigned himself entirely to the guidance of the Brahmans, for whose benefit he established a liberal though somewhat improvident expenditure.”* Under the influence of the Brahman minister, the great, Maharaja whose name was a terror to his enemies, abjectly submitted to Brahman domination, and like Shivaji pledged his kingdom to the Brahmans. “He took three steps by which the whole state was surrendered, bound hand and foot to the Brahman. The first was the surrender of the whole country to god Sree Padmanabha, the deity in Trivandrum, by which the ruler assumed the role of the vassal of that deity, and the land tenure itself was based upon this act of the ruler.
“Secondly, Oottupuras or feeding houses for the Brahmans were established throughout the state for the daily feed of the Brahman.
“Thirdly, the institution of Murajapam once every six years for feeding the Brahmans at a fabulous cost, This was supposed to remove the sins of the ruler in having Burnt down temples during the wars The fact is no temples were burnt and it was merely an excuse for-the Brahman to feed at public expense. . . . The impoverishment of the people and the country did not stop here. The people of the state were taxed mercilessly and all the available public revenue came to be dumped in a cellar alleged to be situated beneath the Pagoda at Trivandrum.”*
“The large sum of money amounting to upward’ of thirty-four lakhs of rupees which was-the surplus in the treasury and which had been transferred to’ the Palace Treasury ‘ was all spent in vows and religious ceremonies at the Pagoda, and the Palace Treasury also soon became empty.”
“In every month several days were devoted to the fulfillment of the vows at the Pagoda and on each occasion a large sum of money was given to the shrine. On one occasion the -amount was one lakh of Surat rupees which was heaped in from of the idol of Sree Padmanabha swamy and the Maharaja took the numerous bags -containing the rupees and poured the contents into the silver vessels which
*Pages 193-195, vide Right of Temple Entry. Page 197, vide Rigth of Temple Entry.
were kept there for the purpose. This work engaged His Highness about an hour and he had the determination of mind to go through the labour even in his delicate state of health.”* The State Treasury was so depleted by the reckless expenditure for temples and the Brahmans that the successor of Martanda Varna. had no money to discharge his obligations to the British Government. A loan was, therefore, taken from the said temple and it was repaid with fifty per cent interest.
The Izhavas, who forined nearly seven lakhs out of the total Hindu population of 25 lakhs (1921) together with the other non-caste Hindus, formed a, large majority. They were kept out- of the temples,. denied admission to schools and public examinations, denied admission into the public service, branded as untouchables, without free use of roads, public tanks and wells and other public institutions. In 186o when Sir Madhava Rao was the Dewan, one of them wanted to sit for the public examination for the selection of Vakils for the High Court and had paid the fees. He was not however permitted to sit owing, it was said, to the objection of the caste Hindus. Till 1895 the Government used to refuse admission to these people to the Government schools. In 1886 the British Resident failed to obtain a place in the state service in Cochin and Travancore for a graduate belonging to this community who afterwards became a Deputy Collector in the British service.
In 1891 a “Malayali Memorial” signed by more than ten thousand representative Travantoreans was submitted to the Government praying for the recognition of the right of the Hindu Izhavas to enter the Government service. The memorialists only pleaded that these Hindus might be allowed
*Page 19’6, vier. Right of Temple Entry.
the privileges enjoyed by the Christians and the Muhammadans. But the Government could not sanction the prayer owing to the opposition of the caste Hindus. In these and other ways a majority of the Hindus were forcibly kept out from the benefits of civilization.
The numerous other ways in which the life of the lower classes is made intolerable in Hindu society are too well known to require reiteration. One characteristic incident may however be described, as it throws much light on the rigour of the serfdom to which they were subjected by the high caste Hindus supported by the Government. The females of the low castes were not allowed to wear the upper garment in the fashion of the high caste females. Thousands of them had become converts to Christianity under the influence of the London Missionary Society. The Christian females began to wear the upper cloth like the high caste ladies: This created a sensation, and led to conflicts between the caste Hindus and the Christians who -were joined by the still unconverted low caste peoples. The Government ordered that the old practice should not be altered. The Christian missionaries took the matter in appeal to the Madras Government in 1859 when Sir Charles Trevelyd was the Governor. The latter wrote in strong terms to the British Resident: “I have seldom met with a case in which not only truth and justice but every feeling of our common humanity are so entirely on one side. The whole civilized world would cry shame upon us if we did not make a firm stand on such an occasion. If anything could make this line of conduct incumbent on us,- it would be the extraordinary fact that persecution of a singularly personal and delicate kind is attempted to be justified by a Royal Proclamation, the special object of which was to assure to Her Majesty’s Indian subjects liberty of thought and action, so long as they did not interfere with the just right of others. I should fail in -respect to Her Majesty, if I attempted to describe the feeling with which she must regard the use made against her own sex of the promises of protection so graciously accorded by her. It will be your duty to impress these views on His Highness the Maharaja and to point out to him that such prohibitions as those conveyed in the circular order of May 1814 or in the Proclamation of 3rd February, 1829, are unsuited to the present age and unworthy of an enlightened prince.”*
The result of Hindu rule was that in a few leads, the most orthodox Hindu state became more Christian than any other part of India. According to the Census of Ago’ the Christian population of Travancore was only, six lakhs. By 1931 it rose to 17 lakhs or 33 per cent of the total population. As the official historian of Travancore wrote ‘We have the rare phenomenon that the conserva five Hindu state of Travancore is much less Hindu -than even the Muhammadan State of Hyderabad.”
The author of the “Right of Temple Entry” whom we have quoted so often in this chapter writes: “As matters stand at present the Thiyya Hindu of Hindu Travancore has not as much right of free citizenship as the lowest Hindu in the Muhammadan state of Hyderabad or the lowest Hindu of Christian British India. To be a Hindu in the Hindu state of Travancore is not a privilege -for the non-caste Hindus; it is not a mere handicap; it is a curse; it is an insult. Therefore there can be no other conclusion but that the caste-Hindu in Travancore is not’ exercising his right as a Hindu for the cause or on behalf of Hinduism, his state religion,’
*Page 146, vide Right of Temple Entry.
but purely for the private purpose of his own caste-Hindu community.”*
When the present Maharaja ascended the masnad a few years ago the situation was approaching a crisis. A large section of the Hindus was preparing to abandon Hinduism and embrace Christianity rather than continue to live as the helots of Hindu society. The Maharaja took his courage in both hands and prevented the mass con-version by the famous Temple Entry Proclamation, The event should open the eyes of all who so vehemently allege that immemorial usages cannot be altered except in small imperceptible doses. The hideous structure of Hindu society and religion could be altered in the twinkling of an eye, if the Hindu rulers or the British Government were earnest in their desire to save their Hindu subjects, as well as their own faces. Though ‘most of the evil customs have grown too rotten to stand scrutiny by honest men they are allowed to stand, because there is no ruler or government to give them a kick into the rubbish heap.
Cochin is another orthodox Hindu state, and very progressive too, having the largest percentage of literacy in all India. In this state there are more than four lakhs, or two-thirds of the Hindu population who are even now treated as untouchables and to whom British imperialism or any other rule– would any day be more welcome than Hindu Raj. Already two and a half lakhs or 27 per cent of the total population 0921) have become Christians. Next to Travancore, Cochin is the most Christian state in India.
Kashmir is probably the most ancient of the Hindu states now existing. But it is Hindu only in
*Page 176, Right of Tempi° Entry.
name. Out of a total population of about 331- lakhs (1921) 25 lakhs are Muharnmadans and the Hindus number only 6i- lakhs. The intolerableness of Hinduism is further evidenced by the increasing numbers of Hindus who are becoming Arya Sama-jists, Sikhs and Buddhists. Hindu Raj has never been for the good of the Hindus. It has always existed for the profit of a small minority of high castes and the exploitation and suppression of the largest number. The scheme of Hindu life, social, religious and political, fundamentally remains what it was in the days of Manu when “the people were nothing, the prince was little and the priest was everything.” The risk of a revival of Hindu Raj under Swaraj is the greatest peril that threatens Hindu India.
